1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Split Second. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?” Val, a middle aged African American police officer, is on break on a dark July 4th night when he spots Willis, a racist white man, trying to get away with an old car. Other characters, who come later, are Vale's wife Alea, his dad Rusty, friend Charlie, and police force supervisor and interrogator, Parker. All of which are approaching the situation of what happened that July 4th night with different viewpoints and perspectives.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? Be careful when citing the intrustion, it may not be where you initially think it is. When Parker interrogates him and he outwardly lies to him. After covering up the crime by putting the knife and wallet back, he is now covering it up in his story.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? This is the day Vale shoots a white man he had already cuffed after the man persistently, verbally discriminated against him.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.) Will he continue to lie? Will he eventually get away with this?
5. Use Val to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is, dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what Val wants (NOTE: In Split Second the wants of Val are in flux and he is being swayed by his father, his wife, his friend, and his colleague at work. His wants seem to change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. a. Me against myself: after the interrogation, he starts to think about what he's done and gets guilty. He takes it out on his wife and eventually tells both her and his dad. It builds up in him fast and his subconscious prompts him to speak. b. Me against another individual: His dad, who thinks that one should tell the truth no matter what. He has a large appreciation towards the task force and doesn't hesitate to tell him how he feels about the situation c. Me against society: The section is most obviously seen through the law. Val is last faced against the court, weighing in on whether or not the law sees his story as convincing enough or not. The whole plot centers around his fight for moral versus legal. d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods: it could have been fate that vale and Will run into one another. Especially since Val points out that he was on break and it was all just timing.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Split Second. This key moment is seen when he finally announces that he killed the man and covered it up. He first says his to his wife, Alea. This moment is crucial since this is the first time he verbally tells another of his lie while also confessing to himself. It's obviously that everything is building up on his chest and so confessing this is a big moment. He was smart in telling the interrogator a fake story, but now he's starting to slip and tell everyone to help his conscious. This theatrical moment cascades him into telling his dad and Charlie as well.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Split Second. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Car: In the first scene, Vale repeatedly points out how dumb it was that Willis was even going for such an old car. This is further pressed on him later when he feels doubts in his actions and making it more difficult for him to defend his case - why shoot a man who was only trying to steal an old car? It also demonstrates the different needs the two men have
Knife: The “fake” weapon of the crime since it was never actually used against Vale, only threatened. Yet, in the end, it’s one of the key evidences Vale uses in the court since he can say it was all self defense.
Gun: Vale’s weapon of choice. In comparison to the knife, it’s interesting in that it shows the dynamic in both class and power. Vale, an African American, is the police officer with a dangerous gun and Willis, a poorer white man, yields a potentially life threatening knife. It’s like one against the other, with even their weapons showing the extreme differences between the two. It isn’t until Vale reads his profile after that he starts to see some similarities between them and starts feeling more guilty for his actions.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Split Second. Racism (both within and outside a community - as represented by the somewhat racist interrogator, Parker, who was originally casted as an African American man), the power struggles and balance between moral versus ethical decisions, gun laws (which is especially a hot topic in today’s news), acceptance, and violence both verbally and physically.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Split Second? Family in this play can be split between the reactions of Vale’s wife versus that of his father. Both of which are very close family members to him, so much so that he was comfortable enough to disclose something as life impacting as a lie told to cover up murder; however, both reacted very differently to the news. It’s important to have these differing views as to show how asking more people can give different perspectives to a situation, even if those people have similarities between them, People can surprise you. This can be seen in how his friend Charlie, who can still be considered as close as family, changed his opinion on Vale even though he had been trying to help him when it first happened and he didn’t know the whole truth.
Val, a middle aged African American police officer, is on break on a dark July 4th night when he spots Willis, a racist white man, trying to get away with an old car. Other characters, who come later, are Vale's wife Alea, his dad Rusty, friend Charlie, and police force supervisor and interrogator, Parker. All of which are approaching the situation of what happened that July 4th night with different viewpoints and perspectives.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? Be careful when citing the intrustion, it may not be where you initially think it is.
When Parker interrogates him and he outwardly lies to him. After covering up the crime by putting the knife and wallet back, he is now covering it up in his story.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
This is the day Vale shoots a white man he had already cuffed after the man persistently, verbally discriminated against him.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Will he continue to lie? Will he eventually get away with this?
5. Use Val to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is, dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what Val wants (NOTE: In Split Second the wants of Val are in flux and he is being swayed by his father, his wife, his friend, and his colleague at work. His wants seem to change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character.
a. Me against myself: after the interrogation, he starts to think about what he's done and gets guilty. He takes it out on his wife and eventually tells both her and his dad. It builds up in him fast and his subconscious prompts him to speak.
b. Me against another individual: His dad, who thinks that one should tell the truth no matter what. He has a large appreciation towards the task force and doesn't hesitate to tell him how he feels about the situation
c. Me against society: The section is most obviously seen through the law. Val is last faced against the court, weighing in on whether or not the law sees his story as convincing enough or not. The whole plot centers around his fight for moral versus legal.
d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods: it could have been fate that vale and Will run into one another. Especially since Val points out that he was on break and it was all just timing.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Split Second.
This key moment is seen when he finally announces that he killed the man and covered it up. He first says his to his wife, Alea. This moment is crucial since this is the first time he verbally tells another of his lie while also confessing to himself. It's obviously that everything is building up on his chest and so confessing this is a big moment. He was smart in telling the interrogator a fake story, but now he's starting to slip and tell everyone to help his conscious. This theatrical moment cascades him into telling his dad and Charlie as well.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Split Second. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Split Second.
Racism (both within and outside a community - as represented by the somewhat racist interrogator, Parker, who was originally casted as an African American man), the power struggles and balance between moral versus ethical decisions, gun laws (which is especially a hot topic in today’s news), acceptance, and violence both verbally and physically.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Split Second?
Family in this play can be split between the reactions of Vale’s wife versus that of his father. Both of which are very close family members to him, so much so that he was comfortable enough to disclose something as life impacting as a lie told to cover up murder; however, both reacted very differently to the news. It’s important to have these differing views as to show how asking more people can give different perspectives to a situation, even if those people have similarities between them, People can surprise you. This can be seen in how his friend Charlie, who can still be considered as close as family, changed his opinion on Vale even though he had been trying to help him when it first happened and he didn’t know the whole truth.